Best practices for a Lync Meeting

There are different options you can use when setting up, joining, and presenting in a Lync Meeting. These best practices help you take advantage of the features that make your job easier and provide a pleasant meeting experience.

Setting up a Lync Meeting

Scheduling the meeting

For a small and casual meeting with people inside your company, use the meeting default options instead of changing the settings. Remember that the default options let everyone be a presenter and join the meeting directly.

If you have a specific meeting requirement, for example, a larger audience, secure data, or external customers, be sure to change your meeting options to fit the requirement. For information, see Set options for Lync Meetings.

Note: The maximum number of meeting participants is 250.

If you have both in-person and online attendees, you can run your Lync Meeting in a conference room. Click Room Finder in Outlook to find and add a conference room in the building you want. Or book the room separately, and add the room information in the Location box in the meeting request.

Designate a backup presenter

Choose a backup presenter, in case you can’t join or are running late. A backup presenter can also start the recording, help and manage the audience, or monitor the questions submitted in the meeting so that you can focus on your presentation. This is especially important if you have a large meeting or event.

Know your PIN

Most of the time, you don’t need a personal identification number (PIN) when you call in to the meeting with a phone. You get connected directly and your number shows up in the participant list. But, if you want to call in as the leader or an authenticated caller, you’ll be prompted for your PIN and/or work number or extension.

Note: Dialing in as an authenticated caller just means that the meeting is secured and you need to be identified before joining the meeting.

It’s a good idea to have your PIN handy in case you need it. If you don’t remember your PIN, click Forgot your Dial-in PIN? in the meeting request and follow the instructions on the page to reset.

Include a training document or link in your meeting request

If you’re inviting participants who aren’t familiar with Lync, include a How-to training document or link to the Lync training in the meeting request to help them learn about the meeting features before joining the meeting.

Joining a Lync Meeting

Sign in to your meeting 10 to 15 minutes in advance, to get set up and have time for troubleshooting if required.

Before the meeting, decide if you’ll be using computer audio (Lync integrated audio and video) or a phone for the audio portion of your meeting.

If you’re using computer audio, set up your audio and video devices, and check the quality. You can use your computer’s mic and speakers or plug in a headset. For more information, see Set up, test, and troubleshoot Lync audio

If you’re using a phone for the meeting audio, take advantage of the LyncCall Me feature. On the Join Meeting Audio window, select Call me at, and type the phone number you want to be called at. When you use this feature, you won’t need to enter the meeting ID or a PIN.

If possible, use a headset, instead of your computer mic and speakers, for higher quality audio.

Audio quality is highly dependent on the condition of the network. Use a wired network connection and make sure you switch off wireless on your computer.

After you join the meeting, mute your mic if you’re not speaking.

Presenting in a Lync Meeting

Have a colleague sign in to the meeting with you to verify the meeting audio and visual quality.

Check the in-meeting options to make sure you’ve turned off or on the correct audience features, such as attendee permissions, view content, or annotation permissions.

If you’re using PowerPoint:

Keep the slide deck to approximately 15 slides or fewer, with larger fonts (above 30 points) and a simple background, to avoid distraction.

Upload your presentation in advance, and practice with the controls to move the slides or annotate. For example, you can call out important points by using the laser pointer or stamps.

Leave enough time for questions, and let the audience know that they can type their questions or comments in the instant messaging (IM) area.

Mute yourself when not speaking, and make sure you know how to mute or unmute your participants if needed, both by using Lync and phone touch tone commands, if you’re using a phone (press *1 on your phone dial pad to hear the commands).

Remind participants at the beginning of the meeting how to mute or unmute themselves.

Running your meeting in a conference room

It’s a good idea to give yourself time to get the room ready before your meeting starts, to make sure Lync is set up to work with the room audio and video devices.

Connect your laptop to the projector and the conference room phone if needed.

Mute your computer’s mic and speakers, if there’s an echo. Ask other people in the room to also mute their mic and speakers if signed in to Lync.

You can connect the room phone to your computer or use the phone to dial in to meeting audio.

If you’re using the room projector, connect the cable to your computer, and select the appropriate display. On your keyboard, press the Windows key + P to bring up the display, and then click one of the following:

Duplicate, to show your desktop on both your computer monitor and the room projector.

Extend, to extend your desktop from your computer monitor and the room projector.

Projector only, to show your desktop only on the room projector.

We recommend selecting Duplicate so that you can see the meeting both on your monitor and the room display.